Bazaar preview

Last year was my first experience selling at holiday bazaars. I did two, and loved them so much! I think because it's like playing store. Half the fun is setting up my table display, making it all pretty and organized. I was hooked. So I've officially signed up for one this year, and tomorrow I'm mailing my registration for another. 

The first one of the year is this coming weekend! And it's two days long! I love that idea. Same amount of work setting up, but two days worth of sales! Here are the details:

St. Paul of Damascus Lutheran Church

24510 SE Hwy. 212

Boring, OR 97089

Friday Nov. 4th 1pm-8pm

Saturday Nov. 5th 9am-4pm

Here's a link to the flier with more information.

So, naturally, I've been getting very crafty. I'll be bringing lots of new things to see how they sell! My absolute favorite things to make so far are wreaths!

I've always loved wreaths for all seasons. Especially unique ones. I have a fall one hanging on my door, a feather one in my living room, and usually we have several displayed around Christmas time- my favorite is a lavender beaded one. I know it doesn't sound Christmas-y, but it works with our decor! 

These twig wreaths are embellished with a variety of leaves, glittered pinecones, satin flowers, feathers, beads, buttons and tulle. 

These were such a refreshing creative outlet for me! Something different than my usual sewing. I've been having a blast with my glue gun.

This is a shabby chic fabric scrap wreath! Embellished with a bow and flower. 

I've seen tulle wreaths on pinterest lately and fallen in love with them. I just so happened to have a fair amount of peacock colored tulle lying around... thanks to my halloween bunco costume...

And you all know I love repurposing! So here is my first peacock tulle wreath. 

I just love it. I think a peacock Christmas would be fabulous.

While I was having fun making satin flowers I decided to make some hair clips. Here they are, clipped to my fall garland. So fun and glam!

Of course I'll also have my usual items: reusable snack bags, stuffed owls, tons of coffee cozies... and most likely ducks and beavers embellished onesies, super cute ironing board covers, embellished wipes cases, pretty sleep masks, maybe even a diaper cake or two! I just love making them. 

A great friend will be joining me and bringing her gorgeous knitted hats, baby headbands, and possibly little girls peasant blouses! 

Should be lots of fun. Come stop by if you're local! I'd love visitors! 

Homemade flubber!

This rainy day project was all hubby's doing! Ty wanted to make a "potion"... so Mike did a little googling and found this recipe for flubber, or "slime". 

All you need is Elmer's school glue and borax! If you've ever made the homemade laundry detergent I've posted in the past you'll have borax on hand. If not you can find it in the laundry aisle at most grocery stores for a few dollars. One box lasts forever. We also happened to have several bottles of the school glue because I like to stock up when the stores have it ridiculously cheap for back to school. I think I got ours for 25 cents or something crazy like that. 

Here's the recipe:

In one bowl mix one bottle elmer's school glue (the white bottle- 4oz) with 4 oz water. Set aside.

In another bowl mix 1 tablespoon borax with another 4 oz water (warm is better). Stir until borax is dissolved. 

Then add the borax mixture to the glue mixture. Stir and knead until incorporated. Add food coloring if desired! This green turned out so cool!

Mike ended up adding a bit more borax to his recipe, and the longer you work with it the better it gets. So keep kneading!

Store in a lidded container and it will keep for several weeks! Our boys had so much fun with this! It's really cool how it sort of stays together in one glob. Ty especially loved it, and asked to play with it again after Beckham went to bed, then again the next day. It keeps him occupied forever. 

I sat down to play for a while too, and it really is fun stuff!

It really doesn't make much mess either. Better than play-doh in my opinion. I gave him a placemat to use, but the globs that slipped off were no problem. They just lift right off the table. 

Hubby thinks we should make a few big batches of different colors and package them individually to hand out to trick or treaters on Halloween! With a 'do not eat' label of course. Fun idea I think!

My newest crafty attempt

Hello. I'm back. For now, at least. 

Summer was great, Ty has started Kindergarten (!), and I've been crafting up a storm. So much craftiness around here that I haven't wanted to take the time to share any of it! I am completely hooked on sites like Pinterest and CraftGawker, both of which have handy iPhone apps, so I can get ideas constantly. There are seriously not enough hours in the day to try all the stuff I'm dying to try. 

My latest attempt. which I am now obsessed with, is embroidery. It is so fun! I've been googling all kinds of different stitches to learn. 

Recently I bought a box of Kleenex tissues, not because we needed them, but because the box was so adorable. It had the cutest monsters all over it. It occurred to me in the grocery store that they would make an awesome embroidery pattern... and so they did!

These were my four favorites. 

Love these silly little guys. I intend to sew up something for one of the boys out of the embroidered gray fabric, but have yet to decide what. Suggestions?

This owl I saw on craftgawker, and had to give it a try. It's a bit crooked because this was before I learned to trace the drawing onto the fabric, so I drew him freehand. He's perfect for Beckham's room. This wall with the wooden owl art was always missing something. 

I love his eyes. 

Becks loves him too. He loves "counting" all his owls before bed. "one, two, two, one."

Repurposed chalkboard

This next project was all hubby's! He did it to surprise me; isn't he creative?! 

He and Beckham went to the Rebuilding Center (that place is SO fun!) and picked out an old, framed window. I think he said it was $2. Then he painted the glass with chalkboard paint! He even wrote the cute message himself. He says he isn't happy with his writing, but I think it looks great. 

Isn't it cool and shabby?! I absolutely love it. I think it'll be really fun to change the message for seasons and holidays. 

When I was pregnant with Beckham I ordered a gorgeous wipes case on etsy. It was one of my favorite things. But sadly, there was an unfortunate incident recently that may have involved a particularly messy diaper... I won't go into detail. And you can't really wash these fabric covered wipes cases. So I had to toss it. But I really missed it! So I decided to attempt my own. 

I'm only a little bit happy with it. I hate that the case I happened to have lying around was a green one. Wish it was white. And I really like the fabric, but don't love the way the ribbon around the edge looks. But for just using supplies I had around the house, and for my first attempt, it'll work. 

Here's the back. It's padded with a little batting under the fabric. I just used a lot of hot glue. We shall see how it holds up to everyday use! I may be making more of these... if I can perfect them I think they'd make a great little gift for mommas-to-be. And it seems everyone around me is expecting right now! Better not drink the water.... ;)

Destination deck

 Our house backs up to a big greenspace, and our yard slopes steeply down towards it. It tends to be wet and marshy down there, due to a small creek. Soon after we bought the house, we brought in several dump trucks full of dirt to fill in the yard and make it a bit more usable. But it's still pretty small. It'll work for five years or so, but we are always looking for ways to get more use out of the space we have, because we love spending time outside.

Hubby came up with the idea for a tiny, second deck near our new sign. It hangs over the steep edge of our yard and makes the useless space functional. The adirondack chairs we got on clearance at Joann fabric store for $27 each! And they even came whitewashed already. 

We decided to paint the deck one of the colors in our sign to unify the look a little. The color we chose is called 'head to the beach'. Love it. 

We are hoping to build a short railing of some sort across the back since the drop-off is pretty steep- but we aren't sure yet what would look good on this funny little deck. Hubby also plans to add some stairs to the left side to make it seem bigger. 

There is a small, ornamental tree to the left of the deck that provides a bit of welcome shade during the hot afternoons- the only shade we have out back. 

This spot provides a 180 degree view of the entire yard, so it's much easier to see the kids while they play than on our upper deck. 

On a side note, here's our pretty new banana tree from my parents! It's a hardy banana, so it grows here in the NW but doesn't produce fruit. Just gives a great tropical look. They get super tall, too- and if you plant them in the ground they multiply like crazy. Even in the pot ours already has three baby shoots starting. 

Tissue pom pom tutorial

Ok, here's a fun and easy tutorial. My sis-in-law and I made these for a baby shower we hosted, and they were so cute hanging as decor!

Here's what you need:

tissue paper

scissors

floral wire (or any wire, really)

Lay out a stack of tissue paper, 8-10 sheets. The paper I used came in packs of 20 sheets, about 20"x25". I was able to make four pom poms per pack. 

Cut your stack in half so you have two stacks of around 20"x12.5". This doesn't have to be exact- different brands are different sizes. You just want rectangles, basically. 

Set aside one stack for your second pom pom. Then start accordion folding a stack, starting at the short end. 

Your folds don't have to be perfect, but I think the narrower the folds, the prettier the pom turns out. Maybe an inch or so. 

While holding your accordion, cut the ends into a curve. You can also cut them into a V shape for pointy petals. 

Now find the center and cut a small notch on each side. This makes it easier to fluff once it's held by the wire. 

Now bend a piece of wire into a hook...

...and wrap it around the tissue into the notches you cut. Twist the end around the rest of the wire to secure. 

Open it up into a nice little fan...

....and start gently peeling each layer away from the rest of the fan. Peel all the way down to the wire so your pom gets really fluffy. Peel a few layers one direction, then switch and pull from the other side so you get an even sphere. 

Shoo the kittens away over and over and over...

Keep peeling and fluffing until you have a gorgeous pom! Bend your wire into a loop so you can hang it, then fluff the tissue around it to help hide the wire. 

You can really experiment with variations... Use the entire stack of 8-10 tissues without cutting it in half for a giant pom. You may need more than 10 to keep it nice and full when it's that large. You could also cut a six inch strip off your big stack to make one big pom, then cut the 6" strip into two for mini poms! I've discovered the smaller the pom, the fewer tissues you need to make it full. So the minis could be made with less, but the giant ones will need more. 

You can also peel your layers just one direction to make more of a flower rather than a full sphere. In that case keep the wire straight and use it as a stem. 

I'm thinking these could be really fun July 4th decor! Also Christmas!

Fun fun! 

The BIG baby shower post

Oh my word, this is a lot of photos. 

But I just had so much fun I wanted to share every detail with you!

My SIL Christie asked a few months ago if I would help her plan a shower for our friend who is expecting her first little one in August. Once the big ultrasound revealed a sweet baby girl, we got to planning. 

Momma-to-be likes purple, so we instantly decided to go with varying shades- eggplant to orchid to lavender. I had a few theme ideas but we decided to go with 'dresses'.... what could be more girly?

So here is the day, in photos. First of all, praise the Lord for the fabulous weather that day! Bright sunshine, warm, just a light breeze. Perfect.

This is the gift table, before most guests arrived. It ended up very full!! Baby Skylar is loved and blessed already!

We knew right away we wanted to decorate with actual dresses, and my mom found this gorgeous skirt that demanded a prominent location. 

These are some of the prize bags I decorated, because what's a shower without games? And what are games without great prizes in pretty little bags?!

Christie and I had great fun on baking day, making the hydrangea cupcakes above, and of course- purple cake pops! On a side note, I've started using my stand mixer to crumble the cake and mix in the frosting when I make cake pops, and man do they get smooth and lovely! It really helps!

These were devil's food cake with chocolate fudge frosting, coated in vanilla candy melts with purple sugar sprinkles. They tasted like fudge-y brownies. Mmmm.

Here is the food table, complete with Skylar banner. It's a bit hard to see, but its held together with tiny wooden clothespins. 

Some closeups of the cupcakes- We jazzed up lemon mix with sour cream and pudding... then topped them with vanilla raspberry frosting. A funny little story: We filled one with extra frosting as a game; whoever gets the filled cupcake gets a prize. A nice, girly prize. Well, no one found the winning cupcake. Until after the shower was over and my aunt called to say the leftover cupcake she brought home for her hubby just happened to be the winner. So, Uncle Aaron, we have some nice vanilla body spray with your name on it. 

Frosting these was so easy! I was surprised. Saw them originally on Pinterest, and found the corresponding blog that posted them, along with a tutorial- which of course I can't find now. 

I decorated a glittery wooden 'S' that we sent home for Skylar's nursery. And the pic above is a bit washed out, but Christie and I folded the napkins into little dresses with bows. 

Creamy pasta salad cups- because cupcakes and champagne floats aren't always enough.

I had a lot of fun making these little dress cupcake toppers. Cardstock, tulle, ribbon and lots of hot glue. Fun stuff. 

I love individual portions of food in little cups. 

And something about these sweet/salty dipped pretzels just gets me. Plus they are pretty and easy to make. 

The non-alcoholic drinks. For the poor preggo. ;) I somehow forgot to snap a pic of the champagne float, but it was nummy. Champagne with lots of melty, cold tropical sherbet. Kinda wish I had one right now...

I also love indoor furniture brought outdoors. And pregnant mamas need comfy chairs with ottomans. Decorated with tulle.

My sweet friend, who has two beautiful girls, lent me these tiny dresses she had saved. Well, four of them are hers, the others were gifts for baby Skylar. 

I had tons of fun sewing two of these dresses. The second and fourth from the left- I forgot to take closeups of them.

Here are the tissue pom poms Christie and I made- I'll be posting a tutorial for these in the next couple days. They are surprisingly easy to make, and would be perfect for a wedding! Or mini ones for a baby mobile! I sent these home for Skylar's nursery as well. 

Thank you so much to my mom and dad, for letting us take over your gorgeous house for the day and all help with this event. To Christie for letting me help plan and for all your hard work! And to Jessica and Jenna, for the ideas and setup help...

Also to Stacey- thanks for having a girl! I got to immerse myself in ruffles and ribbon and tulle and dresses. Congrats on baby and thanks for letting me be a part of this day!

To my fab hubby who had kid duty all day Saturday- thanks babe. Love ya. 

Check back soon for a fun pom pom tutorial!